Times of the Past Alyssa's Story
by amberranae6292
Summary: It was James, Sirius, Remus, Peter, and, hanging in the shadows, Alyssa. See the rising of Voldemort, the joining of James and Lily, the birth of Harry, the Potters' deaths, and more, all from the eyes of a forgotten friend. REVIEW PLEEEASE! flames accept
1. Welcome to Hogwarts!

**Disclaimer : I own nothing! and if i did, trust me, peter'd be worse'n dead, james n lily woulda had twenty kids and lived to a ripe old age, and sirius would be a manwhore until the end.. but noooo.. also, if it was my choice, REMUS'S NAME WOULD BE.. BOB! ok, not really, but anyway, all this stuff 'cept Alyssa and Kylie belong to senorita Rowling**

"Give it up Siri, I'm not doing it."

"Aw, c'mon Lyss!" I groaned as the boy in front of me gave me his irresistable puppy eyes.

"UGH FINE!" I grabbed his arm ("Yippeee! I love you!") and practically threw him back into the compartment.

Ok, by now, you're probably lost, so I'll attempt to explain the crazy magical world that I have taken part in for the past five years.

When I was 11 years old, I was rudely awoken by some damned owl that flew through my window. I attempted to get the thing to fly away, but it didn't do any good. The

thing was determined. Finally, I gave in and rolled out of bed to examine it further. In its beak, it had a rolled up peice of what looked like parchment. Rolling my eyes, I

unrolled the thing only to find out that I had recieved a letter from a man named "Albus Dumbledore" and that I had been accepted into a magical school of some sort called

"Hogwarts".

And that's how it all started. I had only moved to England less than a year before recieving that letter, and was just picking up on the ways of the non-magical

Englishpeople (Muggles, as I later learned), and now I had to learn the ways of the wizards. Fun, fun.

So, shortly after recieving the letter of acceptance, I made my way to Diagon Alley, then to Platform 9 3/4. I had suspected it was all a joke or prank, but it wasn't,

and before I knew it, poof, I was on the Hogwarts Express. While I was on the Express, I had run (well, tripped over) a cocky, black haired punk, who happened to be a

2nd year. After he and I had a rather loud arguement about who's fault it was, we introduced ourselves. Sirius Black and I have been close friends every since.

Not long after I met Sirius, I was sorted into his house (Gryffindor) and was introduced to his best friend, James Potter. James was a carbon copy of Sirius,

personality wise. By my 2nd year, I regularly hung (is hung a word?) out with Sirius and James. About mid-year in 2nd year, we recieved a "transfer student" as

Dumbledore called him. Sirius and James tried to stay away from him, but I became friends with him, and eventually, he started hangin out with us. Remus Lupin, like

Sirius and James, was a 3rd year. I was fine hangin out with them, but I kind of wanted someone my age to hang out with us. And, as it happened, in 3rd year, Peter

Pettigrew joined the group. Unfortunately, Peter and I just didn't.. bond.. like the guys wanted. We got along just fine, but I have a hard time being nice to anyone shorter

than me, and because I'm currently 5'2 and he was 4'9, he fell under the Too-Short-For-My-Liking-and-or-Respect list.

Ahh, lists.. there are many weird/geeky/annoying/crazy/just plain.. psycho habits I have, and lists are one. The guys have learned just not to even ask anymore. I also have

an obsession with leprachauns and monkeys, which is why James bought me a (real!) pet monkey for my 15th birthday.

And now, that brings me back. See, the Mauraders are infamous (or famous? I never get those two right) for their pranks, and there we were not even at Hogwarts yet and

they had one up their sleeve. Now, because Remus and I are prefects, if we get caught for joining in on their little.. adventures.. we could get into more trouble than normal.

Unfortunately, though, they had used Remus for an alibi one too many times, and now his credit was worn thin, as far as Professor McGonagall's concern. So, now they

had one more source, one person that had a relatively clean slate and had all the teachers' trust : me.

"She agreed!" whooped Sirius, plopping down in the seat. He and James gave each other a high five, while Remus observed me with a slightly amused expression. I

shrugged at him, knowing he knew as well as I that I would end up saying yes. I silently dared him to say one word, however, because my pride is something that is NOT

to be messed with. He wisely remained quiet.

"Yeah, yeah, what's the game plan again?" I slid some of Peter's books off off the seats and sat down.

"Hey my books!" Peter narrowed his eyes at me. I narrowed mine back. After he looked away (he can't look someone in the eye for more than five seconds) I looked back

at Remus, the one who normally thought out the plans of action.

"Okay, here's what we're going to do.."

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I know most people are bored by it, but I think the Sorting is actually kinda cool. I could tell by the loud growling of the stomachs, however, that the boys disagreed.

"They should have the Feast FIRST," muttered Sirius, looking mournfully at the empty table. My friend Lily Evans rolled her eyes at him, and motioned for him to pay

attention. I gave her a smile, but she just shook her head at me. She doesn't understand why I hang out with "those obnoxious toerags". Personally, I'm not sure myself.

Remus isn't so bad, but Sirius, James, and Peter can be downright annoying. But somehow, I still love them, in that God-you're-annoying-would-you-please-shut-up-before-

I-smash-your-head-into-a-wall way. But then again, that's how they feel about me, most likely. Now don't get me wrong, Remus is just as psycho as the others, but he just

has a quieter way of coming about it. I have noticed one mistake people constantly make, though. Most say "I would rather Lupin prank me than Black or Potter." Well,

these people are terribly wrong. I learned the hard way about guys, especially guys like Remus; the quiestest are the most dangerous.

Anyway, back to the feast. The Sorting finally ended ("Zankrell, Lina - Hufflepuff!") and the guys were currently stuffing their faces with chicken legs and anything else they

could get their hands on. A lot of the food I had never tried until I arrived at Hogwarts; being American had its disadvantages. Not only did I get lost in some of the most dry

senses of humor, but the guys constantly gave me a hard time about my South-Coast American accent (I go to my grandparents for holidays, so it never fully wears off).

"Look at em," commented Alice King, a fellow 5th year. She raised her eyebrow at her boyfriend, Frank Longbottom. He glanced up at us. "What?" he asked, frowning.

"It's good!" Alice and I laughed, then went back to eating ourselves. I can only act civilized for so long, my stomach hates being ignored. Besides, I wasn't ABOUT to let

Sirius eat all the mashed potatoes.

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"Settle down, please?" Charms Professor Flitwick struggled to be heard. In front, a few Slytherins picked him up and began to randomly pass him around. The

Slytherins, who were obviously bored, began to use some kind of magic to pull down his pants. The professor was humiliated, but, due to a silencing spell, didn't

make a sound. Now, I'm not one of those people who go around telling people to leave teachers alone, but I've always had a soft spot for midgets, and Professor Flitwick

was no exception.

I angrily stood up on my desk. "PUT HIM DOWN RIGHT NOW!" People know me well enough to know that you don't mess with Alyssa Kaufman when she's in a bad

mood. Well, scratch that, most people. Unfortunately, Bellatrix Black continued to torture the poor professor. Yes, Black. Cousin to Sirius. 'Course, Sirius is hated by all

his family for his assosiation to muggle-borns, but still.

"What're you going to do if we don't?" Bellatrix taunted. "I'm not 'fraid of no Mudblood." I narrowed my eyes. Being a prefect, I could easily dock points from Slytherin, but I

had a strange feeling that that alone wouldn't stop them; in fact, it would encourage them even further.

"Alice," I whispered, "Go get McGonnagall." I figured it'd be the easiest thing to do. Alice nodded and quietly sneaked out of the class. I watched her go, then turned back

to the Slytherins.

"Bellatrix, I'm warning you, PUT him down." The girl was startin' to piss me off now, and, growing up in Texas, America, I knew a good many cuss words she probably

hadn't even heard of.

Thankfully, at that time, Lily Evans (Head Girl) showed up.

"WHAT," she yelled loudly, her face matching her red hair, "IN MERLINS NAME," her eyes closed in on the Slytherins as she drew her wand, "IS GOING ON HERE?" she

used her wand to lower Professor Flitwick and take of the silencing spell. He stumbled to his desk.

"Hey, Mudbloods, you better watch out," called Black, her face gleeful. "Voldemort just might like two little-" Lily silently casted the body-binding spell on Bellatrix, causing

her body to first freeze, then lock to the floor.

Lily's face was a mask, hiding her emotions, but I had a pretty good idea the words "I-HATE-BLACKS" and "MUST-NOT-KILL" were a few of the many running through her

head. Lily strode over to Professor Flitwick and, after making sure he was okay, levitated Black and began to exit the room.

"Mudblood", "Slut", and "Brown Noser" were just a few of the names Lily was called by Slytherins as she left. Her face remained blank, and she, with her hostage levitating

in the air a few feet in front of her, left the room.

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"Crazy," muttered Remus. Sirius, obviously pissed at his family, just stared down, face set. We were sitting around the fire in the common room, and I had just re-

told the events from Charms. James stared into the fire, and Peter, oblivious, read over his Transfiguration notes. I shook my head at Peter, then turned back to look at the

others when I noticed Remus's eyes on me. I frowned, noticing the increasingly obvious way his skin was paling, and the haggard look in his eyes.

"Remus," I said, "can I talk to you?" Without letting him answer, I stood up and went to the far corner. Remus followed.

"What's wrong?" I asked him, frowning deeply. His face was practically white as a ghost (no offense meant to any of the Hogwarts Ghosts), and his eyes had no look of life

in them whatsoever.

"Nothin, Lyss, I'm just tired," he said, not meeting my eyes. Ook, weird.

"Why don't you go rest up some?" I suggested, not missing the dark bags under his eyes.

He smiled vaguely. "I'm fine," he said firmly. His choice, if that's how he wants to act, then fine.

I shrugged at him, then turned and went back to the guys, who were now in a heated discussion over Voldemort. Moments later, Remus re-joined us.

"What're ya'll talkin bout?" I rolled my eyes. They got quiet and exchanged glances with each other.

"Do you realize how.. Southern.. you sounded?" chuckled Sirius.

"Ah, shup Siri, 'n' don't change the subject.. whatcha'll talkin bout?"

James grinned. "You know what.. she just may be able to help us."

I glanced at his face, then at Sirius's, and slowly backed away. I did NOT like the sound or look of that one bit.

"Ohh Lyssiii," sang Sirius jollily.

"Oh shit," I muttered.

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	2. The Trip to Hogsmeade

**Disclaimer : I own nothing! and if i did, trust me, peter'd be worse'n dead, james n lily woulda had twenty kids and lived to a ripe old age, and sirius would be a manwhore until the end.. but noooo.. also, if it was my choice, REMUS'S NAME WOULD BE.. BOB! ok, not really, but anyway, all this stuff 'cept Alyssa and Kylie belong to senorita Rowling /**

"Lily, wait up!" I called. Up ahead, a streak of red hair stopped, then a face replaced the vibrant color.

"Hey Alyssa, what's up?" She shifted her bag around as I reached her.

"Eh, nothin' much, you?"

"Nothin'." She and I began to walk down to the Quidditch field. (She goes because her friend Kylie is a Keeper; I'm a Beater, and James is a Chaser).

"James is going to kill me," I said conversationally. "Even if it's only a practice, I'm still gonna get yelled at for bein' late."

Her face darkened slightly. "Potter is a showoff, and always will be." Ook, not the reaction I was looking for, but I can work with it.

"Why do you think that?" I made sure to keep my tone light, only slightly interested. She shrugged.

"Well, I do admit, he isn't as much of an annoying juvenile as he was last year; nevertheless, he does still show off, and it gets quite annoying at times." Holy shit, how in

the world did she get all those proper sounding words to fit in one sentence? Brain overload here. Ahh..

I walked along in silence for a few seconds, trying to figure out WHAT the hell this girl just said. She can't help it, I know, being Head Girl can do that to people, but still..

Dude.

I think she was saying James is still a showoff, or something.. I decided not to question it.

"You really don't like James, do you?" I asked, still trying to decipher Big word. her previous Big word statement Big word. Ohmigod, I was starting to talk like Lily. I took

this as a sign to get away A.S.A.P.

"It's not that I don't like him, I just wish he wasn't such a showoff," she sighed.

I nodded. "Well, I should prolly run 'n' get up there, but I'll talk to ya laters." Before she could say another word, I was gone.

Thank God.. one more second her those big words and my head was going to burst. I suddenly knew why people went insane. I could still hear all those words floating

around in my head. I had half a mind to smack my head and tell those damned annoying voices to shut up, but I figured Lily was still in earshot. Last thing I need is for Lily

to think that even I was mental. Besides, Kaufman is the biggest word in my vocabulary, thank you very much.

Anyway, I got down there to the Quidditch field and gave James a slight nod to tell him Lily was coming. I personally didn't see how his 'wonderfully thought of' plan was

going to work, but hey, whatever creams his twinkie.

"Okay, everyone in the air," called James as Lily took the stands. She sat on the middle bleacher, just the right height. Perfect-o.

Of course, James and I were the only ones on the field who knew about the plan, but I was suprised Sirius, Remus, and Peter weren't there to watch the.. event. I noticed

neither of the 4 had been around last night, and I had caught Sirius coming in late, so my bets were they were huggin the toilet.. gotta love hangovers. Potter himself looked

a little tired, which further justified my suspicions. He probably didn't want to be out here any more than the rest of us. I mean seriously, 6am in the morning is WAY too

early for practice. Dude.

Anyway (notice I always get off topic? Short attention spans.. stupid voices.. bad, bad. -slaps self-) we began to fly around like headless monkeys with leprachaun bodies,

passing the time until something exciting happened. I lazily wacked a bludger halfway across the field, then went back to watching James, waiting on his signal. Why I had

agreed to this stupid plan, I have no clue. It's something a 1st year would think up of.

After the sun began to rise and we could finally see what we were doing, I began to watch James even more closely. He waited until practice was nearly over, then looked

me in the eye and nodded. I rolled my eyes at the stupidness of this -- if he screwed up, Lily would be in the hospital wing for a week -- but reluctantly got in position. I was

directly in front of Lily, even though I was on the opposite side of the stadium. James got the Quaffle and zig-zagged throughout people, waiting on me. A bludger came

flying at me out of nowhere. I sighed, then waited until James was in place. When he was, I swung the bat.. and hit the bludger directly at Lily's head.

It happened so fast, I just had to trust James had gotten to her alright. Unfortunately, when I had been focusing on one bludger, the other had been unnoticed. And, lucky

me, I got slammed straight in the back by it. As I fell off my broom, all I can remember thinking is "Karma is a bitch"

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"Good morning, Sunshine!"

Ugh.

"Sirius, I'm going to chop off your ear if you don't shut up." With that, I attempted to sit up, but I realized I couldn't move.

Uh oh.. for some reason I had the strange feeling that that wasn't a good sign.

"What happened?" I asked groggily, not really sure if I wanted a truthful answer.

"You were knocked off your broom, you idiot." James sounded half amused, half annoyed. Yeahh, some friends.

"Not that moron, I meant Lily."

"Ohhh," said James lazily, "she thinks she owes her life to me, blah, blah.." I heard the glee in his voice, no matter how hard he tried to mask it. What did he think I was,

stupid? Well.. probably.. but still.

Madame Pamare, the one who ran the Hospital Wing, chose this time to emerge from her office. "OUT!" she yelled. After waving bye, the guys were ushered out of the

room, leaving me to stare up at the wonderful ceiling.

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I groggily awoke to a familiar voice.

"Ma'am, I'm feeling much better.."

Remus.

Oh for the love of God, what in the world has this boy gone and gotten himself into now?

"Are you sure? Perhaps you should stay a little longer, it's only been a few -"

"It's been 12 hours, I'm fine, really."

They were silent. Finally,

"Okay, Dinner is almost over, though. You'll have to get Professor Dumbledore to get you something.."

Whattt? I must've been laying on that bed for at least six hours! Not cool, dude. Can you say _kitchen raid_?

"Yes ma'am." I heard footsteps, and then he was gone, leaving me again to my scatterbrained thoughts.

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The next morning, I was allowed to leave, but not before enduring both Madame Pamare's indignant muttering ("They shouldn't let girls play that monsterous

excuse of a sport, anyway! What is the world coming to?") and drinking every known potion under the sun. After drinking all them potions, I began to mutter about how bad

my breath would stink; unfortunately, Madame Pamare heard me and forced me to drink yet another "It will cause your breath to smell like mint, dearie, drink up now, good

girl!" She ordered me not to go to Hogsmeade, griped at me some more, and sent me off.

Anyway, I went to the common room as soon as physically possible, knowing that every student over the age of 12 was gone to Hogsmeade. Like that would stop

me. Haha. They could bite me, I was GOING to Hogsmeade.

Luckily, I had been hangin around with the Mauraders long enough to know all the secret passages out of the school and into Hogsmeade. So, after "borrowing"

James's Invisibility Cloak, I set off to Hogsmeade.

After much debate, I decided to use the passage that ended up in Honeyduke's basement. I waited until I couldn't hear anyone, then quickly crept out and blended

in with my fellow classmates in the shop. I slipped out of the shop and made my way to Zonko's, knowing their most loyal customers would be there. Sure enough, Sirius,

James, Remus, and Peter were crowded around some kinda new model of Dungbombs or something.

"Boo." Not suprisingly, all four jumped in the air. I returned James's cloak to him, thanked him, and picked up what they were looking at.

"The Super Dungbomb allows you to choose from three different smells, all of which provide equally satisfying results!" I read aloud. "Nice."

"You're telling me," said Sirius, picking up as many as he could.

James frowned. "Why'd you need the Cloak?"

I explained my situation to him, which caused him to grin. That grin reminded me.

"So, what happened with Lily?"

After Sirius had paid for his purchases, we began walking towards the Three Broomsticks.

"Well," he said, attempting to juggle 3 dungbombs, "after you hit the Bludger at her, I became her knight in armor, just like we had planned.. then we noticed you falling,

Kylie managed to slow you down, and we took you to the Hospital Wing.. Evans actually said thanks to me, then the whole Quidditch team went to check on you.. I

stopped long enough to grab the others, and there you have it." He looked satisfied with himself.

I shook my head. "I'm telling you, that's the lamest plan you have ever had."

He stuck out his tongue at me, then jumped into Sirius and Peter's discussion.

I rolled my eyes, then, for the first time, turned my attention to Remus. I was going to ask him about him being in the Hospital Wing earlier, but decided to wait until we

were in a semi-private place.

Instead, I asked him "Did you rest up?"

He smiled slightly. "Yeah." I fought the urge to yell "Bullshitttttttt." The circles around his eyes were darker than ever, and his skin was paler than the day before. Also, he

had yet another bruise on his arm. Geeze, these guys are violent.

Anyway, we sat down in a booth nearby a window and waited on Madame Rosmerta to come chat. It was while we were waiting that James spotted Severus Snape, a

longtime rival, sitting only four tables away. Naturally, the guys began to put together a plan.

After minutes of debating, we took our places.

"Ready?" called James. We nodded, then each ran in different directions.

First, it was Peter's move. Peter, being short and squat, bulldozed through the people near Snape's table, leaving us a good aim.

Next, Sirius. Because Sirius was not only slim but also tall, he easily made his way through the crowd and stood nearby Snape's table.

Then, James, his pockets loaded with dungbombs, slid a dungbomb underneath Snape's seat.

Finally, it was my and Remus's turn. Because the two of us are the best ones at casting charms, we were the ones to complete the project.

And, trust me, we did.

By the end of our work, Snape had on a pink mini skirt, had vibrant green (and still greasy) hair, and a bikini top with nothing else. Also, something underneath him had

made a rather loud "RIPPPPP" and the dungbomb had mysteriously been set off.

Snape, outraged, stood up to kill somebody, only to find the back of his skirt was tucked under.

"And my nickname is Moony," muttered Remus.

James, Sirius, and I burst out laughing, while Peter was too intent on making sure nothing went wrong. He had no reason to be worried, however. As soon as Snape found

out his skirt was messed up, he reached his hand back to his 'butt' to fix it.. and his hand stuck. Finally, with an almost lazy swish of his wand, James caused Snape to

raise his other hand to his face. Again, that stuck.

So just picture it.. Snape diggin at his crack and pickin his nose while dressed in a pink mini skirt and a bikini top.

I guess you had to have been there to see it.

Either way, it was f'ing funny.

Naturally, Lucius Malfoy, Bellatrix Black, and Narcissa Black all glared our way, but we couldn't care less. Of course, who decided to come into the pub at that time but..

Lily Evans.

Her face immediately went red as she marched over to James. After a bunch of yelling, she turned and walked out. Sirius and Peter gave James a hard time about it, but I

couldn't help but see James's slightly crestfallen face. This made me decide to work twice as harder on Lily's hating him.


	3. Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs

**Disclaimer : I own nothing! and if i did, trust me, peter'd be worse'n dead, james n lily woulda had twenty kids and lived to a ripe old age, and sirius would be a manwhore until the end.. but noooo.. also, if it was my choice, REMUS'S NAME WOULD BE.. BOB! ok, not really, but anyway, all this stuff 'cept Alyssa and Kylie belong to senorita Rowling /**

**Also, I just wanted to point out, that, unlike Ms. Rowling, I don't take things a day at a time.. for example, Chapter One was when they first got to school, and that whole month.. (I'm not sure when it is so I say September) Ch 2 was the whole month of October, This chapter is part of the month of November, n part December :) Jus wanted to make sure I didn't lose anyone.. k.. anyway.. here we go!**

Ok, convincing Lily that James was an alright guy was harder than I thought. I tried everything, and nothing worked. I was ready to slam my head into a wall, dude.

I officially hated redheads.

"Lily, why wont ya give him jus' one chance? Pleeeease?" I pouted. Lily and I were in the library, the Wednesday after the Hogsmeade trip.

"Alyssa," Lily frowned, turning to me, "James Potter is a PIG and you of all people should know that."

I sighed. "Lils, just try it? You know what? The Yule Ball is coming up, and you and James should go." I hadn't thought of it before, but now I was making sure it happened.

If I had to use magic, I would make her say yes to James.

She glared at me over the top of her book. "I'll make you a deal, Lyssa. If you convince Potter to leave people alone for ONE WEEK I'll go to the Ball with him."

I almost jumped with joy. "Deal," I said, and ran out of the library before she could change her mind. Now, to convince James.

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"A WEEK?" Sirius looked shocked. "SHE EXPECTS HIM TO BEHAVE A WHOLE WEEK?"

I nodded, knowing how grave the situation was. James couldn't behave an hour, much less a week.

"There's no way, no way at all," muttered Sirius. James slugged him on the arm and went back to staring into the fire. Remus shook his head, but his eyes had their

humorous glow back in them, and he wasn't quite as pale as he had been a week ago. He smiled at my serious expression, then looked back at James and Sirius.

James finally looked up at me.

"What's today?"

"November 29th," Remus answered. Now he, too, was staring into the fire.

"And when is the ball?"

"December 18th."

James seemed to be considering his options. I could see the wheels turning in his head. Go to the ball with Lily Evans or prank the brains out of the 1st - 4th years? I guess Lily won over, cuz he looked up at me and nodded.

"I'll do it."

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"Can't believe you agreed to it," muttered Sirius as we trudged back from another long Quidditch practice. James scowled at him, then turned to Remus.

"One week 'til the full moon," he said. I wondered what that had to do with anything. Remus seemed to know what he was talking about though, because he nodded. I have never liked being left out of a conversation, so I abrubtly changed the subject.

Gotta love my tactics.

"The ball is in a two and a half weeks," I commented. "Who all has a date?" I looked pointedly at James. He smiled sheepishly.

"Well, Evans said she'd go if I behaved for a week.. she never said when the week was," he shrugged.

Sirius grinned. "I'm going with Kylie Brooks." More like, he was using that as a good excuse to get in Kylie Brooks's pants.. but oh well.

Remus shrugged. "I don't have anyone yet." Whaaaaat?

"Me neither." I didn't really care about the ball anyway, was a waste of time to me.

Remus looked at me strangely, then shrugged and walked on with the boys. Sometimes that boy confuses me.. but then again, that's not a hard thing to do. He was just so secretive, sometimes it-

"Hey, wait up!"

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I was sitting in the library when Remus came looking for me, once again.

"Hey stranger," I said to him, going over my stupid 3 page report for Defence Against Dark Arts.

"Werewolves?" He raised his eyebrows at me. I shrugged. I hadn't chosen the topic, so whatever.. Personally, I didn't see who gave a flyin kick about the characteristics of a werewolf.. but.. again, whatever.

"I can help you with that essay." Remus smiled at me, but his eyes were suddenly clouded over.

Oook.

"Sure!" I said, welcome for any help whatsoever. Remus sat down next to me and began in on a long explanation about the werewolf's tail.

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It was only a week and a half until the ball, and frankly, my lack of a date was getting depressing. Alice was going with Frank, Sirius with Kylie, James with Lily, even Peter had a date with Amelia Bones! The only person I knew of that didn't have a date was Remus, and it looked like Jimmy Lovegood's little sister Lena had her eye on him.

Ok, I was royally screwed.

No big deal, right?

Ahhhhh!

Anyway, I was seriously considering asking Peeves to go to the ball with me when I noticed the Mauraders were missing. Hmph!

Hurt by their excluding me in whatever prank they were doing now, I ate dinner alone. I thought nothing of it and went to bed.

Around 4 in the morning or so, I woke up (don't ask me why). I snuck into the guys dorms again and saw they STILL weren't back.

So, I did what any normal brunette teenage girl would do when worried about her friends.

I went to look for em.

First, I further investigated in the boy's dorm's, and saw that James's Invisibility Cloak and Maurader's Map was missing. Dammit.

Hoping nobody would see me, I snuck out of the school and down to Hagrid's hut. I looked through the window, only to see Fang and Hagrid sleeping peacefully (well, snoring peacefully). The guys weren't there, either.

Now I really WAS getting worried.

"Sirius?" I called out softly. "Remus? James, Peter?"

In the far distance, I could've sworn I head a muffled yell.

"Peter?" I called again. He was the only one with that squeaky of a yell, it had to have been him.

"Alyssa, come here." James sounded like he was miles away.

"Where?" I called, walking in the direction that I thought they were at. It didn't help at all that the wind was blowing and it was the foggiest night we'd had so far.

"Over HERE." Sirius's voice was slightly closer, though I realized I was going too far to the right.

Try again.

I continued to walk, increasing my pace. I stopped just in front of the Whomping Willow. Peter stood beside it.

"Follow me," he said. He hesitated, then picked up a nearby stick and prodded the center of the tree. The evil thing stopped, as if it had been stunned.

"In there?" I asked, wondering if the kid was crazy. He nodded and dissapeared within it.

Me and that tree got off to a bad start.. it tried to eat me when I was a first year, and now I was supposed to walk in the middle of it, willingly?

I would've spent a good 30 minutes debating it, had I not heard Sirius and James's "Hurry up!" from somewhere within. Sighing, I followed Peter.

He led me through some kinda weird tunnelish looking thing that opened into a room. Wait a minute..

this all looked familiar for some reason.

I suddenly knew where I was : The Shrieking Shack

and in the middle of it, on a scraggly bed, lay Remus Lupin.

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At first thought, I thought maybe something had hurt him; he was bleeding all over the place.

"Lyss," said Sirius, almost desperately, "you know about healing, DO SOMETHING!"

"What happened?" I asked, frozen.

James, who had remained quiet, finally stood up and looked down at me.

"He did this to himself," James said evenly. He caught my eye, as if trying to tell me something.

"He did this to himself? How? Only a mon-" Suddenly, it all clicked.

Moony.

_"One week 'til the full moon."_

The bruises.

"_It's been 12 hours, I'm fine, really."_

_"I can help you with that essay."_

His clouded over eyes.

I guess my eyes widened, because James gave me a nod. He could tell that I understood.

"Right," I said, noticing vaguely how my voice sounded strained, "Let's get him patched up."

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Remus avoided me the next morning, which pissed me off.

I couldn't help it!

When classes were over and we were in the dorms for the night, I got fed up and complained to Sirius.

"He's worried about your reaction," Sirius said calmly.

I threw a spellbook across the room.

"I don't give a -insert word here- about his WORRYING," I yelled, "I want him to STOP avoiding me, Goddammit!"

Sirius gave me that "Why-do-I-even-try-to-talk-to-women" sigh and stood up. "I'll be back," he said, and walked up the stairs to the guy's rooms.

I sighed and lay my head down on the table.

When I heard footsteps approaching, I expected it to be Sirius.

"What took you so long?" I muttered.

"Well, it took about 5 minutes for Sirius to convince me to come down here."

Remus.

I raised my eyes to meet his. Where there was normally at least a small spark of friendliness, now even his face was frozen in a neutral, almost angry expression.

Remus sighed and sat down beside me. "I didn't want you to know."

I nodded and looked away. Two can play the silent game, mister.

"Lyssa.." I can never say no to that damned innocent boy voice. Ugh..

I turned around and frowned at him again. "Yes?"

"You shouldn't have seen me like tha-"

"So, you're Moony because you're a werewolf eh? What's Sirius and James? Padfoot and Prongs? And what about Peter, Wormtail?"

Remus glanced around to make sure nobody had overheard (which was kinda stupid seeing how we were alone), then turned back to me. "Sirius is a dog, James is a stag, and Peter is a rat."

I raised my eyebrows at the Wormtail explanation but left it alone.

For now.

"Okay, so what else is going on that I don't know about?"

Remus thought about it a second, then shrugged. "Well," he said, turning slightly red, "you could always.. you know.. youcouldalwaysgototheballwithme." He flushed deeper.

I grinned, intending to milk this for all it was worth. "What was that?"

He glared at me.

Sucker.

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So there I was, the night of the dance. Lily and Alice and Kylie had drug me out shopping ("You HAVE to get a dress, Lyssa, come on!"), and then Lily attempted to do something with my curly hair while Kylie put eye shadow and all that good stuff on me.

"Weeeeeeeeeeee," giggled Kylie as she applied another shade of lip gloss to my lips. If I thought I could move them, I would have told her that four layers was enough. As it was, I felt like I had bricks on my face.

And don't even get me started with my hair.

First Lily had tried to get me to let her cut it.

HA!

Good one.

So, she settled on throwing it all on top of my head and letting curls go everywhere.

At least she tamed the curls.. I guess.

Ugh.

Now, I don't care what people say, my hair weighs ten pounds by itself, and then she piled it all on top of my head.. I was sure to have a headache before the ball even began.

Believe it or not, I was satisfied with my dress (this coming from a girl who hadn't worn a skirt since she was 8). It was (like all my other clothing) black, floor length, and not too clingy, but not all poofyish like a ballerina tutu. For some reason, however, I still felt like a show-poodle while I was waiting on Lily herself to get all primped up.

Not that she needs it.

Lily was wearing a slinky cocktail black dress ("I'LL DIE BEFORE I WEAR GREEN") and had her hair pulled back in an elegant bun. Oh my God.

I said elegant.

Lord, help me.

Anyway, besides for Lils, there was Kylie in her rather revealing dominatrix-looking..outfit.. and Alice in her simple paleish pink floor-length dress.

But why am I talking about dresses?

Aghhhh

Anyway, Lily, Kylie, Alice, and I all attempted to 'descend' the stairs at the same time.

Keyword : Attempted.

If James and Remus hadn't have been standing at the end of the stairs, we would've rolled to the Great Hall.

Ugh.

Anyway, we all exchanged the normal compliments, blah blah blah, and headed to "ze elegaunt ballroom" (Alice's words). After Dumbledore greeted us and all that jazz, we began to dance to some Weird Sisters song. The next one was a slow one, so I kinda half-danced with Remus. Well, the majority of it was stepping all over his feet.

He was smart though.

He didn't say a word.

And that's pretty much how the night went, with the occasional dance or two. James and Lily, I noted, danced the whole night. Once, as James faced me (Lily was facing opposite), he gave me a wink. I shook my head at him and grinned.

Of course, a slow song chose to come on at that time, so James and Lily dissapeared in the crowd. That's when Remus decided he wanted to dance again.

Brave man.

I really tried hard not to step on his feet, I did! I guess I did a pretty good job, because he finally quit wincing every five seconds. Either I stopped or his toes were numb.

Anyway, we were out there dancing, and all that stuff, when beside us, who would come up but Severus Snape and this chick Lexie Concord. Remus and I tried to ignore them at first, until "Mudblood", "Slut", and "Filthy Muggle born" began drifting over to me.

Now, I'm proud to be a muggle born.

I'm also proud to say I performed the best bat-bogey curse I've ever done that night.

So once we got Snape out of our way, Remus and I began dancing again, but he didn't look like his heart was really in it.

"What's wrong?" I asked him.

He jumped like he had been in a daze and smiled at me. "Nothing."

I didn't believe him, but I didn't have much time to think on it, because as I glanced up again, I saw his face only inches from mine.

"Remus?"

He smiled again, and his eyes sparkled.

Now, I've said it before, I can't resist that damn sparkling.

Grr.

I told you the quietest ones are the most dangerous.

But personally, I didn't care.

I closed my eyes as his face grew even closer, and a few seconds later (though it seemed like 30 minutes) I felt his lips brush mine.

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	4. Alyssa's Surprise Visitor

**LCH hi! I totally agree.. it's very disturbing.. --giggle-- anyway, keep reviewin:D **

**DISCLAIMER : I OWN NOTHING. thanks for reminding me..**

I must be dreaming.

I had to be.

Because there was no way Lily Evans was standing over my bed.

At Christmas.

In Texas.

"Boo."

I screamed and rolled out of my bed.

"LILY! WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE!"

She giggled.

The little monster

giggled.

I hate redheads.

"Well, you see, Mum, Petty (her sister), Dad, and I always go to America each year, and we were deciding where to go and I said 'Texas, cuz my friend Lyssa lives there' and Petty said 'California, because there's hot guys there!' So," she stopped finally to take her first breath, "Mum called your mum and asked her if it'd be okay for me to stay here a week, then we'll go back home to celebrate Christmas and your mum said sure! so," another breath, "here I am."

Whoa.

I sat there a second, attempting to figure out what she had just said.

"We're going to have so much fun!" Lily giggled at my bedhead appearance, which brought me back to the present.

Waaaaaaait a minute.

Lily Evans.. a week.. at MY house.

Lord, give me strength to survive.

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"So, is it true that Texans don't go out of their house without wearing a cowboy hat?"

"No." I was trying hard to convince myself it could be worse; at least she knew what a lightbulb really was.

Somehow, I didn't find that too re-assuring.

"Do Texans ride around everywhere on horses instead of in cars?"

SOMEBODY TAKE ME AWAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY

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That night, Lily and I hung out at the elementary school playground.

"I remember being small," Lily said, swinging. "Petty was always a year higher than me, but we were close."

"What happened?"

Lily sighed. "I was accepted into Hogwarts."

We sat in silence a moment longer, until, in the distance, a few kids began to play on the merry-go-round.

"James Potter is the most confusing guy I know," said Lily suddenly.

I raised my eyebrows.

Just for the record, she brought the subject up, not me.

Score one for Operation Get-James-and-Lily-Together.

"Why's that?"

She looked thoughtful for a second. "Well, he's such a pig sometimes, but then he's.. well.. sweet at others..

Score two for Operation GJLT.

"Well," I said almost nonchalantly, "he's proven he'll change for you.. why don't you at least give him a try?"

Lily was obviously thinking things over. "I've thought about it," she said finally.

I waited, a lesson I learned from the Marauders. People hate silence. --giggle--

About the time I was thinking "Dude, make up your mind," she turned and looked me in the eye.

"Do you think he would change?"

I nodded mutely.

"Does he really like me?"

This time, I nodded. That's one thing I was POSITVE of, thank you very much.

She finally grinned. "Then, I guess I'll give him a try."

YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!

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The rest of the week passed quickly. Before I knew it, Mr. and Mrs. Evans were there to pick Lily up.

"Don't forget to talk to James," I reminded her as we hugged.

She grinned. "I won't."

With that, Petunia and I nodded at each other (stupid btch), and then they were gone.

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"SIRIUS BLACK, YOU SHOULD BE ASHAMED OF YOURSELF." I cringed as I heard Mrs. Black's voice carry above all others. I heard Sirius's voice, but I didn't hear what he was saying. I walked up next to him, knowing Mrs. Black would have a heart attack.

"--Assosiating with mudbloods.. LIKE HER." Mrs. Black jabbed her finger at me. I raised my eyebrows at Sirius, shook my head, and continued on to the train. Hogwarts Express was due to leave in 5 minutes, and I wasn't about to be late. Sirius continued to argue with his mother for the next 4 minutes 30 seconds, then he met up with me and the other Marauders (excluding James, who had mysteriously disapeared when Lily Evans was spotted) who were waiting impatiently.

"Now we're goin to have crappy seats," complained Peter. For once, I agreed with him, but I was too excited to care.

"Guess whaaaaaaaaaat," I sang out. The three guys glanced at each other warily. They knew that my singing was never good.

"What?" asked Sirius carefully. He and the other guys stepped a few feet away from me. I giggled.

Yes.

I giggled.

The guys glanced at each other again, and Sirius even took out his wand.

Just in case.

"Wellllll," I sang (which caused me to recieve even more wary stares), "Ze Great Aleesuh haz saved ze day!"

Every one of them had the same dumb expression.

Guys.

"Ok, ok, well, Lily stayed a week with me over the break and-" I spoke above Sirius's "Whaaat?" and Peter's "Why?" "-and and and I talked to her about James and she agreed to give him a try!"

Again, those dumb expressions.

"LILY AGREED TO GO OUT WITH JAMES."

Finally, recognition. "Wow," muttered Peter.

I wasn't sure if it was meant as a compliment or an insult..

so I just ignored it.

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	5. Sirius's Prank

**Disclaimer : I own nothinggggggg**

So, James and Lily had been going out for almost a month when Sirius almost killed Snivellous sp.

I mean, Sirius pulled some gay prank that could've ended up in Snape's being ripped to a billion peices.

Now, I don't like Snape, but I would never.. you know.. lure him into a room with a werewolf.

And, Sirius being the retard he is, did just that.

Butttt, I'm getting ahead of myself. I'll start from the beginning.

So, for the past few weeks, Snape suddenly became interested in why Remus disapeared as frequently as he did. Well, he is all wrapped up in DADA, so it didn't take him long to figure out Remus's little.. problem.

And naturally, being who he is, Snape taunted Sirius.. and threatened to tell everyone.

And naturally, Sirius kicked his ass.

But then, Sirius decided to do the lowest thing I'd ever seen or heard him do.

He told Snape how to get into the Shrieking Shack.

Dumbass.

Well, Snape, being a nosy little grease head, decided he was going to check it out for himself.

The only thing I can say about it is its a good thing James found out about it before it happened.

"Lyssa," he gasped, grabbing me as I was on my way to back from dinner to the dorms. It was already night, and I knew Remus had already transformed.

"James Potter," I growled, struggling to get free as he literally drug me by my arm out of the castle and towards the Whomping Willow, "you know as well as I do that, unlike you, I have this little thing called UNABLE TO TRANSFORM INTO A 4 LEGGED CREA-"

"Lyssa," he said in a tone equal to mine, "shut up."

I guess I was surprised by that, because it did what he had wanted; I didn't say a word until we froze. The Whomping Willow was already still.

Cursing loudly, James threw his Invisibility Cloak over me and pushed me away from the entrance to the Shrieking Shack. Then he dissapeared within it.

I silently cursed him so long I was saying things even I had never heard of.

Within the Shack, I heard random cussing, a few yells, and Remus's.. shrieking.

I heard voices behind me and saw Sirius and Peter coming towards where I was standing. Quickly, I pulled off the cloak.

"Lyssa," said Sirius in surprise, "What in Merlin's name are you doing here?"

"I honestly have no clue," I said shortly, "but James Potter is going to die." I began explaining what had happened when James emerged from the Whomping Willow.. _with Snape._

SNAPE!

Before I could say anything, James tackled Sirius and punched him in the mouth.

Whaaaaaa?

Peter and Snape looked just as taken off gaurd as I was.

"YOU!" yelled James, "YOU TRIED TO _KILL_ HIM!" James landed another punch. Sirius attempted to fight back, but James had him pinned down. Sirius couldn't move.

"WHAT WAS I SUPPOSED TO DO?" Sirius managed to wring one of his arms free.

"YOU USED MOONY YOU-" They jumped apart as if they had been shocked. Then, from the right, Dumbledore emerged with his wand out.

"I think we had better go to my office," he said calmly. Now I knew why James had wanted me to wear the cloak.

"You too, Ms. Kaufman," Dumbledore said politely.

Damn it.

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We waited in that damned office all night, until morning came, when Remus, looking very tired and miserable, was brought into the office with us. Professer McGonagall sat to the right of us. The rest of us were sitting in a row in front of Dumbledore's desk.

Now, we were 5 teenagers (6 counting Remus) and an old bat that had not had any sleep, so you can only imagine the tempers in the room. Dumbledore had been careful to seat us teens where we were least likely to rip each other's eyes out. James was first, then Peter, then Snape, then me, then Sirius. Remus was placed next to James.

"Now then," said Dumbledore cheerfully, emerging from his bedroom in his pajamas, "I believe some of us have some explaining to do."

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sirius was interrogated first. Throughout the whole thing, he didn't look at anybody, so he didn't see the constant looks of dissapointment that Remus was giving him. I wanted to ask Dumbledore if I could at least give the guy a HUG, but I had a feeling that would quickly be shot down.

After Sirius told his side of the story, Snape was next. Snape told how Sirius had _persuaded_ him to follow Remus down to the Shrieking Shack. Yeah, right.

Finally, after James and Peter told their stories, it was my turn.

Now, I didn't think I had done anything wrong, but I guess they figured they should interview me if they did it to everyone else (with the exception of Remus).

"Why did you go to the Whomping Willow?" Dumbledore's eyes were kind, I guess telling me I wasn't going to be locked in a basement for talking or anything.

"James.. um.. pulled me along with him." I didn't want to make it sound like James was tryin to rape me or anything.

"And you were wearing his invisibility cloak, I'm guessing?" I nodded.

He interviewed me a little longer, then sent all but Remus and Snape out into the hallway.

We were silent as we waited, but I saw the death glares James was sending to Sirius.

After what seemed like years, Snape, Remus, and Professor McGonagall came out of Dumbledore's office.

"He wants to see you," Professor McGonagall said. I nodded.

Remus glanced at me. I tried as hard as physically possible to muster a reassuring look in my eyes, but I figure it turned out looking like I was constipated.

Oh, well.

I went back into Dumbledore's office, to see him standing over his Pensieve.

"Welcome back, Ms. Kaufman," he said, taking his place again at his desk. I bit my lip and nodded. "Now," he continued, "this is more of a personal question, and if you don't wish to answer, that is up to you."

Staring at the floor, I nodded again, feeling strangely like a bobble-head doll.

Dumbledore's floor has a very nice carpet design, I observed.

"How long have you and Mr. Lupin been romantically involved?"

I glanced up sharply, not expecting such a.. blunt.. question. I certainly don't have discussions with Headmasters about my love life daily, that's for sure.

But then, this is Dumbledore.

"Romantically involved?" I choked. "Um, we're.. not.."

His eyes glistened. "I saw the two of you at the Yule Ball."

Why can't he be as blind as all the other old bastards his age?

Damn it.

"Uhh.." I had no clue what to say to get me outta that one. P.D.A. (A/N : Public Displays of Affection) was strictly not allowed..

I was screwed.

Again.

Luckily, though, Dumbledore smiled (or smirked?) and stared up at the ceiling. "I saw nothing." Then, his face became serious.

"You know of Lord Voldemort, I assume?"

Don't assume, it makes an ass outta yo.. I know, that's old.

"Yessir.." Another bastard who wants to rule the world single handedly..

Dumbledore raised his eyebrows. "And what do you think of him?"

I shrugged. "I figure as long as I'm at Hogwarts, I'm safe."

He nodded, then held my eye. "Alyssa, you are Muggle-born. You have best friends who are considered traitors to their Dark family (Mr. Black), who's family are known for 'loving' Muggle-borns and Muggles (Mr. Potter), a half-blood (Mr. Pettigrew), a werewolf (Mr. Lupin) and another muggle-born (Ms. Evans). Now, with you being a Muggle-born, I'm sure you have heard of Hitler?"

I nodded.

"Then you are familiar with Hitler's beliefs that only people with certain traits and of a certain religion are worth living. Hitler murdered many, wanting a world full of only blonde haired-blue eyed children, when in the end, it turned out that Hitler, himself, was part of the race that he was trying to kill. Lord Voldemort, Ms. Kaufman, is the same way. Voldemort believes only pure-blooded wizards should be allowed to live.. when he, himself, is like Hitler."

He paused to let his words sink in.

"Do you mean, sir, that Voldemort is a half-blood?"

Dumbledore smiled, then changed the subject.

Damn old farts.

"Anyway, Ms. Kaufman, I just want to warn you that being involved with Mr. Lupin.." Dumbledore sighed, and for once looked as old as he actually was. "Lord Voldemort, Alyssa, is steadily rising to power." I nodded. "He already has many of the giants on his side, and his new target is.. werewolves."

What was he trying to tell me?

"Ms. Kaufman, you must realize, that Remus will be on his list of werewolves to recruit."

"Yessir.."

"Have you ever heard of the Order of the Phoenix?"

I shook my head, wondering why it mattered.

"The Order of the Phoenix consists of a few witches and wizards who are working together against the Dark Lord. I'm telling you this because I feel I can trust you, Alyssa. Mr. Potter's parents are just a few of the wizarding families that are involved in the Order."

"Sir," I said, not wanting to sound rude, but not really getting his point, "What does this have to do with me?"

Now Dumbledore looked impatient. "Alyssa, listen to me.. In the near future, you will be faced with not only prejudism, but many other difficulties. The Order is going to do everything they can to keep you and your friends safe, but you must realize that you will be forced, in the end, to fight. Remember, Alyssa, always stand up for what you believe, and don't waver for _anybody_." He almost looked desperate, as if pleading for me to understand.

"Yes, sir," I said softly. I still didn't understand what he was trying to tell me, but I figured I would find out.

He looked at me sadly. "Thank you for your time," he said, dismissing me. I turned and walked out, but not before seeing him wearily close his eyes and sighing.

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	6. Headlines of the Daily Prophet

**Disclaimer : I OWN NOTHING!**

I couldn't believe it; it was already March. Exams were just a few months away, and Lily was already studying.

"You're mental," claimed Sirius. We were all sitting around in the common room, attempting to catch up on the loads of homework, when Lily had burst in, yelled at us to move, and burried her nose in a book.

"I second Sirius's opinion," claimed James. Naturally, the Marauders had all made up, and it seemed to me that I was the only one who remembered it ever happening.

And Snape, of course.

It made him sick that Professor Dumbledore wouldn't let him tell a soul what he had learned.

It made me laugh.

Gaytard.

"Peter, you are such a pig," I slapped Midget Boy upside the head as he stole my eclaire.

NEVER touch my food.

Never.

He glared at me and shoved it in his mouth, then grinned.

Retard.

I reached over Lily ("MOVE IT WOMAN") and stole one of James's. I tossed it to Sirius as James jumped up, glaring. Sirius tossed it to Remus, who frowned and slid it to Peter, who, (guess) ate it.

Yes.

We were that bored.

ANYWAY, James had decided to play a few games of chess, so now he and Remus were starting in on their 16th one. I did what any sensible person would do.

Sirius and I took turns yelling "Booooooooooooo" and throwing things (such as Peter's eclaires) at random people.

Unfortunately, we threw one in the doorway.. as Professor McGonagall stepped in.

"BLACK! KAUFMAN!"

Damn it.

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The past few months (especially since I had last visited Dumbledore) all we heard about was this Lord Voldemort thing. As far as I was concerned, I had nothing to worry about; my parents didn't even know who he was, them being Muggles and all.

I don't think anyone at the school was worried about it until rumors began flying that Hogwarts was home to some young Death Eaters.

"Malfoy," said James instantly.

"Snape," included Remus.

"Narcissa and Bellatrix," nodded Sirius.

"That Lestrange guy, the one who tried to turn Alice King into a ferret the other day." Lestrange was NOT my favorite person in the world at that point in time.

Stupid gaytard.

Notice how all the people we named were in Slytherin? I shivered. It was yet another reason why I was glad I wasn't in that house.

"Sirius," said Remus suddenly, "Isn't that your owl?"

Peter opened the window and allowed Chance, his mother's young (and in my opinion, freakin annoying) owl to land on the table by Sirius and James. Chance dropped what looked like a letter in Sirius's lap, then flew off before Sirius could even pet him.

Poor guy.

Even his owl hates him.

"I can't believe that b-tch," said Sirius darkly, after reading the letter several times. He tossed it to James, who tossed it to Remus, who tossed it to me.

"Sirius,

Hello. I am sure you have heard about Lord Voldemort and his beliefs, and I want you to know that your whole family is on his side. If you decide to honor your blood, we will be most pleased. If you don't, however, it is my sorrow to say that we would prefer if you just didn't come back. Family beliefs come first, Sirius, and I hope you realize that if you refuse, Lord Voldemort will provide you the most painful of deaths.

Yours,

Catline Black

(A/N: I'm not sure about her name, so my sis helped me make one up.. if anyone knows her real name, tell me plz:) )

I glanced up at Sirius with raised eyebrows.

'' 'most painful of deaths'?" I frowned. "What's he going to do, shove your manlihood in a food chopper?"

and naturally, they were lost.

Guys.

James shook his head as if to say anywayyyyy, and focused back on Sirius. "You know," he said, "My parents would take you in gladly if you need a place to stay."

And from then on, Sirius called the Potter's home his home.

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Voldemort was talked about more and more each day, and the Daily Prophet didn't help anything. You'd think it was on _their_ side, by the way it talked, saying things like "Undefeatable" and "Most powerful wizard in all time." There was constantly news of another attack on the headlines. I got to where I wouldn't even bother reading the story, it was all the same; a muggle-born wizard or witch and their family were unfortunate and got killed.

I don't mean it to sound like I didn't care..

I just wasn't scared.

After all, everyone said Voldemort never struck randomly, they said he attacked certain families, and my family were all Muggles; they didn't know who he was.

That is, until Alice King's parents were killed.

The Marauders, Lily, Kylie, and I had been sitting at the breakfast table when the mail came. Lily tossed aside the Prophet and read her note from her mother. My owl, Cammie, hit Peter in the head and fell beside Lily, knocking everything off into the floor.

Stupid owl..

good shot, though.

I leaned down to pick my letter up when I saw the Prophet underneath it. On the headlines, it said "MUGGLES MURDERED". I warily picked it up and pointed it out to Lily.

"Listen to this," she said to the guys. Then, she read aloud:

"Last night, at approx. 8pm, Michael King and wife Pamela King's house bore the Dark Mark. After further investigation, it appeared that they had been murdered by worst of the three Unforgivable Curses. They have one daughter.." Lily trailed off. "Oh no," she whispered. "They have one daughter, Alice King, who is currently attending Hogwarts."

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	7. the Order of the Phoenix

**Disclaimer : iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii oooooooowwwwwwwwnnnnnnnnnn nnnnnnnnnnooooooottttttttthhhhhhhhhhiiiiiiiinnnnnnnnnggggggggg (cept lyssa n kylie)**

**By the way, just for the record.. Alyssa is commonly called Lyssa, Lyss, or Lyssi, so don't get confused! **

**ALSO**

**"King" is Alice Longbottom's maiden name.. i dunno if it is in the books or not but it is in my fanfic, so what now:p**

Exams.

I personally feel that exams are a quack, but whatever.

List of why I hate exams:

10.) You have to study.

9.) You always seem to get a headache on these days.

8.) It makes people like me totally forget everything learned over the year the day before it happens

7.) The last thing you do before you go home is.. an EXAM! who wants do to that?

6.) It's always a pretty day outside on exam day.

5.) Everybody freaks out about it. Who needs that kind of excitement right before you go home?

4.) I've got better things to do.

3.) Voldemort's out there doin his thing, and we're stuck in here describing how to transform a quill into a monkey. Who cares?

2.) This year is the freakin OWL's.

and 1.) ITS AN EXAM.

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We were standing in Hogsmeade, getting ready to leave. Alice, her face blank, stood beside Lily. Lily's arm was intwined with James's, and Remus actually had his arm around me.

Daring ones, arent we?

Alice hadn't said three paragraphs since March, when her parents were killed. Now, she was going home to her aunt. I kinda felt sorry for her.

"All aboard!" Hagrid rushed us onto the train. "La'ers!" he called. We all waved at him, then sat down.

Sirius was joyful just to know that he didn't have to go back to his mother's. James was equally as happy. Lily, though, had her mind on other things.

"Al, you sure you'll be okay?" She had asked Alice the same question for the past few weeks. I'm surprised Alice didn't punch her in the jaw. I would've.

"I'll be fine, Lily, really," she said.

"I don't want to go home," complained Lily, after making sure Alice was okay. "Petty and her new boyfriend, Vermont or something, are getting married this summer."

"What's so bad about that?" Remus frowned at her.

Kylie caught my eye and giggled. We both knew that Lily was being forced by her mother to be the Maid of Honor. Once Lily explained her problem, however, all the guys still looked clueless.

Guys.

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We talked the whole way back about random things. I wasn't sure why, but it seemed like everyone was more serious than usual, though none of us tried to show it. Several times I caught Remus looking at me with a serious looking expression, he quickly looked away everytime I saw him. When Remus wasn't looking at me like that, Sirius was. I seriously began to wonder whether I had something stuck in my teeth or something. But I didn't ask, because I noticed James was doing the same with Lily. I glared at Sirius, and he turned his gaze to Kylie.

Kylie hadn't wanted to go home. "I'm a half-blood," she said. "Mum's a muggle, Dad's a wizard. I'm the type Voldemort is looking for."

We had all re-assured her that she'd be fine, but I could tell she was still worried. I didn't think anything else of it, though, because the train station was quickly coming into view.

When the train finally stopped, we grabbed our things and, after a huge group hug (or an attempt at one), we spread out.

"Hey, Mom!" I called, waving. Not far away from her was Kylie's mother and father. Kylie and I hugged each other one more time, before leaving.

"Bye, Lyss," she whispered.

I never saw Kylie Brooks again.

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----------------------------Sixth Year--------------------------

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I knew that a lot of wizarding people had been lost over the summer, but even I was shocked at how many people were gone. When I arrived at Platform 9 3/4, I thought maybe I had missed the train or something. The amount of people gone was.. sickening.

"Lyssa!" I turned and saw Lily running towards me. She threw her arms around me, knocking the breath out of me, but I didn't care. "Oh Lyssa," she said softly, "it's awful.. Muggle-borns and half-bloods both are being treated awful.." She trailed off, staring at something behind me. I turned around, stared a second, and shrieked.

Yes.

I shrieked.

"REMUS!" Lily and I reached him at the same time, knocking the breath out of HIM this time. He attempted to hug us back, but we left him too quick. "JAMES!"

We did this with all the guys, and again when Alice King showed up, looking tired but smiling.

Lily had warned me about the prejudism we would be facing, but I never imagined it would be as bad as it was. People who once considered us friends now wouldn't talk to us. "Asswipes," I muttered, loud enough for Amos Diggory, a 7th year who USED to consider me a friend, to hear. His ears flushed and he quickly went off to meet his (pureblood) friends.

After a lot of searching, we finally found an empty compartment. We didn't say a word about the empty seat beside Sirius, didn't talk about it. All of us knew what had happened to Kylie; it had been all over the papers.  
"WIZARDING HUSBAND AND FATHER FIGHTS TO THE END TO PROTECT FAMILY, DAUGHTER TAKES HIS SPOT, MUGGLE WIFE MURDERED AS WELL." They hadn't even made it home. Voldemort was that powerful. When I had read that, I hadn't cried. I didn't say a word. I just nodded at my mother and went in my room, where I stayed the majority of the summer.

We were silent the whole way to Hogwarts. Dumbledore's words came back to me. "L_ord Voldemort, Alyssa, is steadily rising to power.. In the near future you will not only be faced with prejudism.."_

I sighed faintly, but nobody heard, and wondered vaguelly if this was how the Jews had felt.

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The first thing we noticed at the Great Hall was that, when we sat down, Gryffindor and Ravenclaw had lost the most. There were numerous gaps of spaces between people at the two tables, and the end space was left open. Hufflepuff had a few losses, only a few gaps. But Slytherin had lost none.

"Gits," muttered Sirius. I felt the same way, but, to my surprise, I remained silent.

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Not quite a month after the term had began, I was sitting in Defense Against Dark Arts when message came that Dumbledore would like to speak with me. I excused myself and walked to his office.

"Come in," he said from within. I opened the door and did as ordered.

"Welcome, Ms. Kaufman." Dumbledore smiled at me pleasantly but wearily from his desk. "Would you like to take a seat?"

Did I have a choice?

I sat down in the chair directly in front of him. He smiled once again. "Pleasure to see you alive and healthy," he said.

I nodded.

"Although," he murmered, almost to himself, "perhaps not as healthy as I would like."

I shrugged.

I guess it seemed weird to people that I went from saying EVERYTHING on my mind to not saying anything at all. I dunno. I did see, though, that I was constantly getting concerned looks from not only teachers, but the _Marauders_. Now that was saying something.

"Alyssa," said Dumbledore, "Do you remember the conversation we had last year, shortly after Christmas?"

I nodded.

"Do you understand what I was trying to tell you?"

I debated whether to be honest or not. Honesty won.

I shook my head.

"I understand your friend Kylie Brooks was lost over the summer?"

Nod.

"I told her the same thing I told you, though slightly different. Do you remember what I told you?"

Nod.

"I told you ' The Order is going to do everything they can to keep you and your friends safe, but you must realize that you will be forced, in the end, to fight.' I also told you never to waver what you believe in for anybody. Do you remember that?"

Nod.

"Seamus and Kylie Brooks put up a fight before they were murdered, did they not?"

Nod.

Dumbledore sighed. "Ms. Kaufman, I called you up here for a reason. Earlier today, we recieved word that Mr. and Mrs. Potter were both murdered."

I froze and felt the blood rush to my head.

"I'm sure you remember my telling you that the Potter family was in danger.. According to a trusted source, Arleine and Harry Potter were sitting in the Three Broomsticks in Hogsmeade when Death Eaters charged into the place and specifically killed them. Yes, Ms. Kaufman. Hogsmeade."

"Where is James." It was a statement, not a question.

Dumbledore examined me closely, his eyes wrinkled, as if determining whether or not he could trust me.

"He is, as of the moment, at the Order's headquarters," he said finally.

"Do the others know?"

This time, it was Dumbledore's turn to nod.

"Mr. Potter requested that Mr. Black, Mr. Lupin, Mr. Pettigrew, Ms. Evans, and you should be told." Dumbledore said this in that final, dismissive tone, so I stood up.

"Alyssa," he called as I began to walk out. I stopped and turned back to face him.

He had the same weary, sad face as he had almost a year ago.

"I want you to realize," he said, "the legal age for the wizarding world is 16. I believe you recently turned of age last month?"

"Yessir."

"The Order allows people of age to join," he said. "I'm sure you realize that Mr. Potter will be interested?"

Nod. James would be the first in line to take his parents' place.

Dumbledore bowed his head, then dismissed me silently. I knew that, once again, I had dissapointed him.

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"I'm joining." James's faced was lined with many expressions; hate, anger, pain.. the list goes on.

"Count me in," said Sirius.

"Ditto," Peter said quickly.

Remus looked me over carefully, then nodded. "Me too."

"We're with you," I said determinedly. All four looked at me strangely.

"We?" asked James mildly.

"Yes, we." Lily frowned in that don't-mess-with-me way. "Me, Lyssa, and Alice."

Alice nodded silently in agreement; the happy-go-lucky look in her eyes completely gone.

"Now, you can't d-"

"We can," I said firmly. "We're not about to let ya'll do this alone."

Sirius opened his mouth to argue.

"Let them," Remus said softly. He stared into my eyes a minute, then nodded. "They know as well as we do what they're getting into."

Personally, I had no clue what I was getting myself into, but it didn't matter.

"Well," said Frank Longbottom, Alice's boyfriend of two years, "you can obviously count me in as well."

And that's how the youngest generation of Gryffindor Order members formed.

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The next day, not bothering to go to class, we all went to Dumbledore's office. We were in there for over an hour, discussing the consequences we would face if we went through with this, and the actions we would be forced to do. Dumbledore almost seemed as though trying to change our minds.

It didn't work.

When we left his office, we were official Order of the Phoenix members.

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	8. The First Meeting

**Disclaimer : iii.. dont.. ownnn.. it.. (cept lyssa)..soo..blahhh!  
**

**A/N : i know im moving along kinda fast but.. im just an impatient person.. so.. yeh.. i have absolutely no clue when james n lily n the gang joined the order, so i made it 7th year and yes (because i know its kinda.. confusing to the blondies out there), alyssa is 16, the others are 17.. she's in 6th year -sigh- anyway, yeah, here ya go..**

Before we were in the Order a month, we were already assigned a task : figure out (if there were any) which students in Hogwarts were Death Eaters.

Naturally, we focused in on Snape, Narcissa and Bellatrix Black, and the Black girls' boyfriends, Malfoy and Lestrange.

"I could always attempt to hang out with them," Sirius muttered, cringing at the thought. We thought about it and, though we hated giving him to the Slytherins, decided it might actually work.

So on the Saturday after our plan, Sirius made his brave venture over to the Slytherin table.

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We didn't really see Sirius much over the next few weeks, except for at nights. Finally, after almost a month of working on it, Sirius gleefully returned to us with good news.

"Malfoy let it slip!" he said, grinning. "He and Narcissa were arguing, and they forgot I was even there, and Narcissa said he wouldn't hurt her, and Malfoy raised up his sleeve and showed her his Dark Mark on his arm and said 'Oh yeah?' Then .they realized I was there and shut up."

When he told Dumbledore this, however, Dumbledore was convinced, but wary.

''You need more proof," he had said. "And soon. The war with Voldemort is worse than ever." Sirius was dissapointed, but we were determined to get the proof.

Somehow.

In the meanwhile, I, like the others, had one main focus above all others :

Stay alive.

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Being the lucky little thing I was, I was stuck in the library attempting to finish up a Potions essay. I silently thanked God when Remus showed up.

"Lyssa," he said, his eyes smiling, "come with me.. I want to show you something."

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"It's beautiful," I muttered. Remus and I were laying on the soft, cool grass beside the lake. Above us, a meteor shower was going crazy. Remus looked over at me and smiled, probably thinking the same as me; less than a year ago, I would've gagged before saying the word 'beautiful'. I grinned and silently dared him to say a word.

He was smart.

I felt something brush my hand. I looked down to see that it was his.

Now, don't get me wrong, I had held hands with him plenty of times.. but never while laying on the grass, watching what was probably the coolest thing I'd ever seen. All the other times weren't really.. well.. _romantic_ like the thought of this one was. (Okay, all the other times were when all the Marauders and I were hiding in a pitch black coat closet waiting on Filch to pass, but still.)

Besides, with the exception of the Yule Ball incident, he and I had never done anything romanticish like that. Excluding Robert Digby (a Hufflepuff guy I went out with in 2nd year), I had never had a boyfriend, and had never really wanted or cared for one. Remus had had his share of girls, and I'd never thought anything of it. I was the tomboyish type, he was a ladies man. I didn't want no guy to drag me down with, he didn't want anyone younger than him, that was for sure.

So why did I suddenly feel a twinge of jealousy when thinking about his ex's?

"Remus.." I said softly, "What are we doing?"

He laughed in that innocent-boy way and kinda shrugged. "I have no clue," he said, taking my hand.

"Hey, Remus?"

"Hm?"

"I.." I trailed off.

"What?"

"I'm scared."

I realized he could think I was talking about the war, but he seemed to know what I was trying to say.

"I-I mean, I-"

"I know."

Still holding his hand, I slid closer to him and rested my head on his shoulder.

He muttered something incomprehendable, almost as if he didn't want me to hear it.

"What?"

He held me closer, then, as I was drifting off to sleep, he said it again.

This time, I caught it perfectly.

"Love you, Lyssa."

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When I woke up, I was in my bed in the girls' dorms.

In my pajamas.

"Don't freak," said Lily from across the room, noticing I was up. "Remus carried you in here, I put your pajamas on."

I rolled my eyes and fell out of my bed. Great. Now I was going to have to avoid unwanted questions about me and Remus.

To my surprise, though, she didn't mention it. Instead, she helped up and directed me towards my clothes chest.

"Get dressed," she said with a sharp edge in her voice. "We have a meeting to go to today."

I knew exactly what kind of "meeting" she was talking about, so I didn't need to be told twice. Without a word of protest about it only being 6 in the morning, I attempted to walk over to the bathroom. I fell halfway there, swore loudly, and crawled the rest of the way.

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"Hello," said a young woman (probably in her early 20s). She spoke in a hushed tone, as if fearing that she would be overheard.

Sirius, Peter, Remus, Frank, Alice, Lily, and I were all standing in Hog's Head in Hogsmeade, waiting on the person Dumbledore said he would send to take us to Headquarters.

"You will know the person is who I sent when you see them," said Dumbledore. He was right. We knew immediately this girl was sent for us.

"Follow me, please," she said softly, leading us to the corner farthest away from everyone but the bartender. The bartender nodded at us, as if he knew who we were and what we were doing, and turned back to his shady-looking customer. I shivered and turned back to face the woman.

"Now," she whispered, "on three, grab this butterbeer here," she pointed at it, then looked at her watch. "One.. two.. three."

We all grabbed onto it at the same time, herself included, and landed on the ground beside a group of old looking apartments.

She pulled out seven small peices of parchment. "Read them," she instructed, handing one to each of us.

We did as we were told. "Dude," I breathed, looking up. Where there had been another shady apartment before, there was now a decent looking house.

The others made the same observation. The girl smiled slightly and, with a wave of her wand, the door flew open.

"Welcome," she said, "to the Order of the Phoenix's headquarters."

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"Where's James?" asked Lily immediately. Professor McGonagall, the nearest to her, frowned.

"He is fine, dear girl," she said mildly. "You will see him in enough time." Lily sighed. "Now," said McGonagall, "come take a seat." She softened her voice slightly, but Lily sat as far away from her as possible.

Dumbledore stood in the middle of the room. He held up his hand until all was quiet.

"Hello to all," he said, smiling.

I kinda zoned out during the meeting, until I heard him mention the Potters.

"..and it is my pleasure to inform you that Mr. and Mrs. Potter's son, James, and his friends Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, Peter Pettigrew, Alyssa Kaufman, Lily Evans, Frank Longbottom, and Alice King are our newest - and youngest - members."

Everyone turned to look at us. "Now," said Dumbledore, "they have already been assigned a very important task; it is their job to figure out which of their classmates are Death Eaters." This caught their attention and, quickly, they all turned back to him.

"The people I want you to investigate-" Dumbledore spoke loudly to make sure everyone heard him, "is the Malfoy family, the Crabbe family, the Goyle family, the Lestrange family, and," Dumbledore caught Sirius's eye, "the Black family."

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Ah, Halloween. I always hated Halloween to begin with, and now I learned there was a full moon due that night.

Which made me hate it more.

So, the guys all got ready for the night, and I just stood there, kinda.. useless.

"I'll be right along," said Sirius. He ran upstairs before anyone could object, so the guys shrugged.

''G'nite," they said as they left. I just frowned. I could already tell Sirius had a "talk" he needed to have with me.

A lot of people think that because Sirius and I are so close, we like each other. Ha! Sirius considers me his little sister, and he was more like an overprotective brother than anyone else I knew.

"Sooo," he said, descending the stairs, "I think we need to talk."

I sat down on the couch. Who knew what he was talking about this time.

"Now," Sirius said, his eyes shining, "I want you to remember that any guy you get with has to be approved of by me.."

Damn Lily and her redheadedness.

She told him about me and Remus.

"I have no idea what you're talking about." I ran up the stairs to the girls dorms. Sirius, however, was too quick. He put his foot on the bottom stair, causing them to turn into a huge slide.

"Bastard," I muttered as he helped me up. He grinned.

"Now then," he smirked, "what exactly is going on between you and Moony?"

I rolled my eyes at him, then stood up.

"Alyssa," he said, actually being serious -no pun intended- for once.

"What?"

He looked away, thoughtful, then cocked his head. "You realize that Remus really does like you?"

I halfway nodded.

Oookay, awkward silence.

Finally, "He loves you. Don't betray him," was all Sirius said before turning and exiting the room, leaving me to wonder what the hell he was talking about.

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	9. Remus's Birthday

**A/N: Okay, from now on, I'm not updatin unless I get at least AT LEAST five reviews on this chapter.. I know ya'll're readin it, so jus REVIEW! grrrr this'll be the last chapter I have until I get more reviews frown annnnnnnnnd here we go!**

I hate when people keep secrets from me. I'm not much of a secret-teller/keeper myself, so, naturally, it annoys me.

And when people annoy me, I kick them.

So I kicked Sirius.

"WHAT WAS THAT FOR?" he yelled, hopping around on his good leg. I frowned and pushed him down onto the couch.

"Why are you and the others being so mysterious?" I asked, towering over him (which is kind of rare, seeing how he's at least 5'8 and I'm only 5'2 with shoes on)

"We're _not_," he growled. He pulled me down beside him, then stood up.

"Bastard." I rolled off the couch and into him. Because he was still standing on one foot, I knocked him over.. and onto me.

"GET OFF M-"

"I'M TRYING, MY FOOT IS CAU-"

"Uhh, are we interrupting something?"

Shit.

I closed my eyes tightly, then looked up. James, eyebrows raised, looked as if he wasn't sure whether to be laughing or disturbed.

So, he settled on both.

"Sirius, you bastard, get OFF me," I yelled as James and Peter burst out laughing. Sirius was trying, but his foot was caught up on the couch.

"Hey- Oh.." Remus walked into the room with a surprised expression.

"REMUS," I yelled, knowing he was my only hope, "HELP ME."

He seemed to waver for a minute, then cracked a smile and walked over to us. After a few exclamations of "SIRIUS BE STILL," "THAT WAS MY LEG YOU DUNCE" and "Why is it always me?", Sirius was free.

"Shut up," I said moodily to the guys. Even Remus was holding back laughter.

Traitor.

I glared at each of them, then turned and stomped out.

"Do I even want to know?" asked Lily once I got up to the dorms. I flopped down on my bed and watched her apply her make up by the dressers when I realized I was mad at her.

So, I took off my shoe and threw it at her.

Perfect aim.

"Hey!" she exclaimed, "What was that for?"

I shrugged. "I can't remember," I said honestly. Then, just to make sure whatever it was that I was mad at her about was justified, I took out my wand and turned her hair neon green.

"ALYSSA!" She screamed, then looked at herself in the mirror.

"You know," she said, her face thoughtful, "That's not a bad color on me."

I let it go back to its original color, but not before rolling my eyes.

She grinned at me, then walked over. "So," she said innocently, "I heard you and Remus ha-"

That's what I was mad at her for.

I charmed my shoes to wack her upside the head.

"Make it stop!" she yelled, running around the room. She continued to run around like a chicken with its head cut off until she ran out of the room. My shoes followed her.

I heard her shrieks all the way down the staircase, and the guys' laughter.

I smiled.

I love revenge.

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I love when I have good ideas. They always seem to hit me at an unlikely time; such as when I'm doing homework, or -cough- cleaning my room -cough-. I always have to drop whatever I'm doing at the moment and instantly do my 'brilliant idea' right then, or else it isn't good anymore.

"Lyssa, what the hell is that?"

Unfortunately, not everyone thinks they're as brilliant as I do.

"Are you kidding me?" I stood up from my new purchase that I had set in the common room and glared at the guys. James, Sirius, Peter, and Remus all stared at me with the same expression -- the "Good God she really HAS lost it" expression.

"Well," I said wisely, handing the rectangular device to James, "this," I motioned to the larger rectangular object in front of me, "is what Muggles call a 'television'."

The guys all looked at me as if I had sprouted another head. I rolled my eyes. "And this," I said, taking the smaller object back, "is a remote-controller, or channel changer, or whatever you Englishpeople call it."

"What does it do?" asked Sirius, turning his "Oh my God it has two heads and an extra ear" gaze on the remote. I sighed.

"Don't ANY of ya'll take Muggle Studies?" Four heads shook. I shook my own in resignation.

"Okay, the remote controls the television, or TV." I strangely felt like I was in class. "You push these random buttons and different things pop up." I've always been an impatient person, and I could tell by their faces that they'd never understand.

Sure enough, they stared at it, the television, and me. "Nevermind," I said exasperatedly, picking up the T.V. "I'll just put it in my room."

Guys are hopeless.

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"Remus's birthday is coming up," commented Sirius a week later. He looked over at me with a glint in his eye. I glared back.

"Sirius, I don't know wha-"

"Oh my God, it is? We should do something nice this year!" I turned my glare on Alice, who grinned at me sheepishly.

"Frank," I said evenly, "Control your girlfriend." Frank laughed and Alice, who had been leaning against him on the ground, sat up and stuck out her tongue. I flipped her off and turned back to the guys.

"Anyway," Sirius grinned, "I was thinkin, Lyssie Poo, what if you-"

"No."

He frowned. "But Lyssie, Re-"

"No."

As I stood up, Remus emerged from the portrait hole. After giving Sirius a pointed look, I smiled at Remus and walked calmly up the staircase. Okay, stomped. Whatever.

"Lily," I groaned as I flopped down on my bed, "I need to get drunk."

Lily stuck her head out of the bathroom, her hair wet. "Okay?" she frowned. She glanced back in the bathroom, cursed, and dissapeared.

"Alyssa," said our other roommate, Olivia Youngman. I gave her a cool nod, then went back to drowning in my own puddle of self-pity.

Notice I haven't mentioned Olivia throughout the whole story? Well, I guess I'd better tell you about her so you don't get confused as to why she is my all-time rival. See, when I was 13, Olivia began to hang out (or over, rather) the Marauders. I didn't think anything of it at the time; even I'll admit the guys have good looks.

Well, dear Livie here decided she was going to make a move on one of the guys; unfortunately, she chose Remus. Well, she and Remus were together almost a month when James catches her in bed with Lucius Malfoy. Soo, yeah, I haven't liked her since.

Not that the feeling wasn't returned.

Olivia hated the whole gang of us; Kylie because Sirius had had his eye on her from the beginning, Lily because James liked her, Frank because he rejected her, Alice because.. well.. she was Frank's girlfriend, and me because.. well.. I'm me. Remus seemed to have forgiven her, but the rest of the gang (even dim-witted Peter) continued to hate the ground she walked on.

"Now then, what's wrong?" Lily, her hair dripping, plopped down on the bed beside me. Olivia looked over at us curiously (or nosily, either works) but remained quiet.

Smarter than I thought.

"Sirius wants me to get Remus a present and I don't want to get Remus a present 'cuz that'd be too girlfriendish but I do want to get him something so he don't think I'm mad at him or anything and James and Peter won't say a word about it they just cheer Sirius on and its PISSING ME OFF." I said all this in one breath, and I'll admit I was impressed. I knew I had hot air in me, but never knew I had that much.

"So get him something small," said Lily wisely. "Don't get him cologne or anything like that, that's too Christmasy, but something like.. like a watch!" She grinned at her brilliancy (sarcasm intended).

"Yeah," I groaned, "Thanks, Lils." I'd just give him money. No, he'd think I thought he was poor or something which he's not.. um..

I banged my head on the bedpost.

Yep. I'm clueless.

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"Happy birthday!" I yelled, tackling Remus to the ground.

"Don't _do_ that," he yelped, his eyes wide, "you scared the shit out of me." I let my jaw drop. I'm sorry, I couldn't help it.

"REMUS SAID SHIT!" I screamed. Sirius and James heard my scream and scrambled down the stairs to the dorm room.

"What the hell-" Sirius started, but I grabbed his hands and swung him around and around.

"REMUS SAID SHIT!"

By now Lily, Alice, Frank, and even Olivia had came to see what I was going on about, but we didn't seem to notice.

"Remus said shit?" said James, frowning. I nodded and giggled. Yes, giggled.

"REMUS SAID SHIT!" Sirius joined in on my dancing and singing around a half-bemused-half-scared-half-confused-half-embarrassed-still-sitting-on-the-ground Remus.

"What's so good about that?" asked Frank, frowning. Helloooo!

"Remus doesn't cuss," I explained, "and he said the shit word." I giggled again. "This calls for a celebration!" I announced.

Sirius didn't need telling twice. He quickly ran up and got the Marauders Map and James's Invisibility Cloak. Yep, me and him definately have almost-siblings-ESP going on.

When we finally got to the Three Broomsticks, we wasted no time ordering butterbeer. Because we knew the owner personally, we knew we wouldn't get into trouble.

I love having connections.

We forgot about the fact that Dumbledore himself loves connections even more.

We were digging into the cake when he walked in. "Shit," muttered James. This reminded me of why we were there and made me giggle. Unfortunately, Dumbledore heard it and came over to us.

"Well," he said, raising his eyebrows at us. We glanced at each other, then I spoke up.

"Sir," I said, "We're here to celebrate Remus's birthday." He turned his gaze to me.

"Is that all?" he asked, and I wondered if he already knew.

"Well," I said, blushing slightly, "that and his.. um.. usage of a new word in.. his.. uh.. vocabulary?"

Dumbledore didn't miss a beat. "What word would that be?" he asked, a humorous glow in his eyes. I bit my lip. "Well, Ms. Kaufman?"

"Um.. the word.. uh..-"

"SHIT!"

We all looked at Remus, who turned instantly beet red. On his shirt and lap were what had been his hot tea (or coffee, or whatever). "Sorry, sir," he added meekly. Dumbledore didn't laugh, but his eyes were sparkling brightly. "So, Ms. Kaufman?"

Remus's outburst had loosened me up considerably, so I smiled politely. "Remus said shit, Professor."

Dumbledore smiled, "I'm aware of that Ms. Kaufman, but his new word was what?"

"No, Professor, Remus said _shit_."

"I said already, Ms. Kaufman, I'm aware of this fact. What was Remus's new word, however?"

"SHIT!" I was getting desperate. Old bastard needed a hearing aid! "Shit shit shit shit! He said shit!"

"His new word, though, Ms. Ka-"

"Shit! You know, shit shinola shit?" I thought maybe he couldn't hear, so I said louder, "SHIT!" drawing many glares from across the room. I shrugged at them. It wasn't my fault the old bat couldn't hear.

"I'm aware what the word means, I'm asking you, what was-"

"SHIT!" The guys were cracking up now, and I realized that Dumbledore was fully enjoying himself.

Bastard.

"Ms. Kaufman, I would appreciate it if you'd just-"

"Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! HIS NEW WORD IS SHIT. SHIT. S-H-I-T. THE WORD THAT RHYMES WITH SPIT, HIT, AND QUIT. SHIT. THE BROWN GOOEY STU..ew. ANYWAY, HE DISCOVERED SHI-wait.."

Now _my_ face was beet red, from impatientness. The guys were rolling on the floor laughing, (or leaning over the table, in Remus's case) and I shot them a hurt look before turning to leave.

I made it halfway there when a coat rack nearby snagged my shirt and caused me to first hit my head on the peg, then fall down and rip my robe.

"SHIT!"

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"So, you're a big bad 18 year old." I sighed and leaned my head against Remus's shoulder.

"Not big and bad," he smiled, wrapping his arm around my waist. "More like scrawny and whimpy."

I turned to face him and looked him over. He wasn't scrawny, but he wasn't as muscular as James and Sirius, and certainly not as pudgy as Peter. His skin was naturally pale, but it actually had some color to it in the sliver of the moon's light.

"Nah," I decided, leaning back against him, "You're good."

I looked up at the moon and realized I hadn't given him his present. I wanted to wait until it was full-moon, but I figured now was as good as ever.

"I'll be right back," I said, scrambling up. We had been laying in our usual spot at the Lake, and I had to go all the way back to the school to get it. Or.. I could..

"Accio Remus's gift!"

I sat back down beside him as the small thing came flying towards me. After it attempted to take my head off (and nearly won, might I add), I handed it to him.

"I was looking.. and I dunno if its a quack or not but it says it should help the pain-" I paused as he unwrapped the thing to reveal a small labeled potion.

"Wolfsbane," he read aloud. I nodded.

"I asked Professor Slughorn about it, but he didn't know what it is.. It's probably a quack, so.. Accio Remus's other gift!" After the larger thing reached me, I gave it to him, "I got you this as well."

He unwrapped it and his eyes widened. "Where did you get this?"

I grinned. "I have my contacts," I said, poking the Invisibility Cloak in his hands. "James's won't hide eight people, so I figured I'd get you one to let us use." I stuck my tongue out at him, but he didn't notice.

"Lyss," he began, "I-"

"STUDENTS OUT OF BED!"

Shit.

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"Lily, I don't know what to think." I was once again drowning myself in self pity, but once again I didn't care. We had the whole room to ourselves; Olivia was gone off somewhere, and our other roommate, Lena Raye, was downstairs with Alice.

"Well, Lyss," said Lily, "do you like him?"

I sighed, then nodded. I did like him. I couldn't help it.

"Then go fo-"

"Lyss!" Alice burst through the door. "Sirius wants to talk to you.. it's important."

I sighed and trudged downstairs. I was in my depressed-at-the-world mood and he knew it. When I got downstairs, Sirius was grinning at me.

"C'mon, Lyss, lets go to the kitchen!" I sighed as he grabbed my sleeve.

"Where's the other guys at?" I asked as he drug me down the hallway. Sirius shrugged.

"Remus went off somewhere earlier, James is with Lily, and Peter is hangin onto them." I half-smiled and began to cheer up as we entered the kitchen.

We pigged out on eclaires and cookies and everything else, then stuffed our pockets with more food. By now, I was actually smiling as Sirius did a wild jig to avoid tripping over the many house elves. Leave it to Sirius to take it upon himself to cheer me up. Almost-sibling ESP going on again.

"So," he said as we headed up to the common room, slinging his arm around my shoulders in that big-brotherish way, "what's going on between you and Remus?"

I shrugged, then looked curiously at the closet beside us. It was obvious there were people occupying it, and Lord only knew what they were doing. Sirius and I shared a glance, then, grinning, we swung open the door.

"GET A RO-" Sirius cut off suddenly. I felt everything go cold.

We had caught them in mid-kiss. His hand was halfway up her shirt, her hands were in places I won't even describe.

Sirius reached in and yanked the pair out. Olivia glared at me, but I didn't even look at her.

I was looking at her ruffled and flushed and guilty-faced partner.

Remus Lupin stared back at me.

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**I re-wrote the ending a billion times, so if I need to re-write it again, tell me! Remember : I'M NOT UPDATING UNTIL I GET AT LEAST FIVE REVIEWS. that's not asking for much, so DO IT ALREADY:D**


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